Wanamaker radio

[stusnyder]

Just picked this little guy up today, but can not find any info on it. Possibly made by Rees-Mace????? Or Pye???? Anybody got one of these or know any info?

[Sandy G]

I THINK Wanamaker's was one of the big Philly dept. stores WAY back yonder...They must have had 'em made as a "Private Label" brand. IIRC, they even had their own store radio station. I THINK I remember reading this somewhere...

[stusnyder]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

I THINK Wanamaker's was one of the big Philly dept. stores WAY back yonder...They must have had 'em made as a "Private Label" brand. IIRC, they even had their own store radio station. I THINK I remember reading this somewhere...

From what I read, they did have their own station. Rees-Mace from London UK did make radios for Wanamaker. I could not find any other manufacturer that supplied them radios. All I know is it's a model 55. Manufacturer unknown.

[stusnyder]

I started with this little guy, the tubes are a 43, 25z5, two 77's, and a 78.
The power cord was cut at some point. What puzzles me is a few things. First it seems like the power cord wires connect to pins 5 and 6 on the 25z5.
The volume control is a combo with the power switch. one side of the switch goes directly to the chassis, and the other wire leads over to the 25z5, but is cut. If you look at the first pic, the leads sticking out from the chassis is what I think was the power cord. There is a screwdriver head pointing to the wire that goes to the power switch. The 2nd pic is a shot of the power switch, screwdriver pointing to the wire in question.
I can not find any info on this radio at all. No schematic, no nothing. Any ideas from anyone???

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by stusnyder

I started with this little guy, the tubes are a 43, 25z5, two 77's, and a 78.

If there's no power resistor to drop the powerline voltage to the heater string, this radio may have used a "curtain burner" power cord, one with resistance wire to drop the voltage. This cord would get warm. And probably decayed so bad that it was cut off.

[stusnyder]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

If there's no power resistor to drop the powerline voltage to the heater string, this radio may have used a "curtain burner" power cord, one with resistance wire to drop the voltage. This cord would get warm. And probably decayed so bad that it was cut off.

Whats the procedure to use a standard cord?
I'm pretty sure 120 v to that tube would not be good

[Reece]

Add up the tube heater voltages and subtract from 120 to see how much voltage you need to drop. There are several ways to drop the voltage but the one I like the best is to use non polarized capacitors. They make no heat like a resistor would. Also they give the tubes a soft start, coming up to full voltage across the string after about 20 seconds. The way to calculate the size is below. Scroll down to the capacitive dropper section. Sometimes you can find them on places like Electronic Goldmine, but they can also be ordered from Mouser, etc.

http://www.vintage-radio.com/repair-...per-calcs.html

[bob91343]

It's a lot easier to just put a resistor in. Nothing wrong with the capacitor approach but it does take some calculating and space and money.

Make sure you only put it in series with the heaters, not the entire set. Those resistance line cords had three leads, two were the power and one the resistor.

[stusnyder]

Originally Posted by bob91343

It's a lot easier to just put a resistor in. Nothing wrong with the capacitor approach but it does take some calculating and space and money.

Make sure you only put it in series with the heaters, not the entire set. Those resistance line cords had three leads, two were the power and one the resistor.

Three leads is what appears to be there, but like I said earlier, one line goes directly to the power switch, and out the other side of the switch goes directly to the chassis...dead short???? Or am I missing something??

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by bob91343

It's a lot easier to just put a resistor in. Nothing wrong with the capacitor approach but it does take some calculating and space and money.

Make sure you only put it in series with the heaters, not the entire set. Those resistance line cords had three leads, two were the power and one the resistor.

How about a 2 amp. diode and a 120 ohm 15 watt resistor or a 170 ohm 20 watt resistor in series with the heaters.

[stusnyder]

Dug this back out to finish it. Reese was so kind in looking at this set and determined that a 200 ohm 25 or 50 watt resistor is needed.
First thing is the chassis is going to need a trip to the cabinet blaster. I have to remove the speaker and that is going to need a re-cone.

Do you re-cone yourself, or do you have it done if so I would love to have the link for my bookmarks.

[stusnyder]

Originally Posted by transmaster

Do you re-cone yourself, or do you have it done if so I would love to have the link for my bookmarks.

I recone my own always. I usually buy the cones pre made. Although on this one I'm having problems finding one that will fit. I may need to make one from scratch.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by stusnyder

Dug this back out to finish it. Reese was so kind in looking at this set and determined that a 100 ohm 25 or 50 watt resistor is needed.
First thing is the chassis is going to need a trip to the cabinet blaster. I have to remove the speaker and that is going to need a re-cone.

In my entry #10, from way back when, I was really mistaken about using a capacitance-reactance dropper. AFAIC, there is nothing like it!
I redid two, somewhat worthless small radio chassis and used this proceedure, just to see how well it worked. I used the caps from scrap ceiling fans. Many of them are double caps, for the speed selection.
You set is a non-avc, autodyne convertor, using a power detector. The volume is controlled by attenuating the incoming signal, so a lot of times, you had to turn the volume to max, to receive a distant station. I calculated the cap you need is a 8mfd @ 250 volts, non polarized AC type capacitor.

[stusnyder]

I'm going to try the resistor since I already have it. I did a google search on this radio and found one other example at http://americanradios.perso.sfr.fr/Gallery.htm
He has a footnote about if anybody has any info on it, to email him. I sent him a email telling him what I know. So this seems like a scarce set.
I'm trying to get a rough date on this thing. By the type of tubes in it, I'm guessing 30's????